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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109596">Happy VE Day</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Plum/pseuds/Its_Plum'>Its_Plum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Band of Brothers (TV 2001)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:14:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Plum/pseuds/Its_Plum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An imagining of what would have happened if for some - in no way contrived - reason Dick and Nix had ended up locked in that drinks cellar, alone, on VE Day.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carwood Lipton/Ronald Speirs, Lewis Nixon &amp; Richard Winters, Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Happy VE Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first Band of Brothers fic so I hope it's okay! I'm very new to this fandom but you have all been super lovely and welcoming so far, thank you! Also thank you for all of your amazing stories on here, I have read so many of them and they have been a massive inspiration! </p><p>I'm sure this story has probably been done before but the stuck together in a locked room trope is one of my biggest weaknesses, and this scene was one of my favourites. Consequently this fic refused to leave my brain, or more accurately, I couldn't rest until it had left my brain, despite the fact I'm trying to work on a T.V. script right now!</p><p>Please ignore the logistical issues like the location of the cellar, the nature of the door and how much sense it all makes generally, who needs those small details eh? 😉</p><p>Anyway, enjoy! (Kudos and comments make my day!😊)</p><p>*Obviously this is based on the fictional portrayals in the miniseries and no disrespect is meant towards the real life veterans.*</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Dick could not believe this was happening. </em>
</p><p>“You had to go and say it didn’t you?” Nix scoffed.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“‘Happy VE Day’” Nix answered, imitating Dick’s voice.</p><p>
  <em>Seriously, how had this happened?</em>
</p><p>“Oh so this is my fault?” Dick asked, indignant, his hands coming to rest on his hips.</p><p>“All I’m saying is <strong><em>I</em></strong> wasn’t the last one to step inside.” Nix said, crossing his arms and shooting Dick a ‘this is absolutely your fault’ look.</p><p>“And all <em><strong>I’m</strong></em> saying is-” Dick responded through gritted teeth, “-I wasn’t the last one to have the key.”</p><p>
  <em>Dick was getting wound up now; he could feel the panic starting to set in. He just <strong>could not believe </strong>this was happening. </em>
</p><p>“I told you-” Nix cut back, interrupting Dick’s reverie, “-I gave the key to Lipton. Or Spiers. One of them anyway.”</p><p>“You probably dropped it.” Dick muttered under his breath, folding his own arms now.</p><p>
  <em>After months, <strong>years, </strong>of burying his feelings, of carefully avoiding any possible situation where those feelings might be exposed, he had ended up in this mess.</em>
</p><p>“What was that?” Lew asked him, looking as tightly wound as Dick felt. Dick couldn’t imagine why Nix was so bothered by their situation, they were surrounded by more alcohol than even he could dream of, and he’d already made his way through a fair portion of it.</p><p>Dick squared his shoulders. “I said you probably dropped it. Your faculties aren’t exactly what they were at the beginning of the evening.”</p><p>“Hey! My faculties are just fine, I can handle my liquor. And I did not drop it. Besides, I don’t think the key would’ve helped, since you let the door swing shut behind you and obviously broke it.”</p><p>“I didn’t break it. It just locked, somehow.”</p><p>
  <em>Sure they’d been alone together. Plenty of times. But there had always been so much going on. People in the vicinity. Witnesses. Distractions. Explosions and gunfire. What Dick wouldn’t give for some gunfire right now.</em>
</p><p>Dick took a breath and continued, “Look, whoever’s fault it is-”</p><p>“I’m voting yours.” Nix murmured under his breath.</p><p>“<em><strong>Whoever’s</strong></em> fault it may or may not be, we’re stuck in here, until they find the key. Which could be a while. What do you wanna do about it?” Dick snapped, breathing hard and throwing his hands up in frustration.</p><p>
  <em>So there it was. The undeniable fact: he was stuck in a locked room, alone with the very man who provoked the feelings he was so desperately trying to avoid. If Dick didn’t know any better he’d think someone had planned the whole thing, as some elaborate joke.</em>
</p><p>Nix looked at him for a few long seconds, breathing just as hard. His eyes were wide, an unreadable expression in them. Dick could have sworn he saw a trace of fear flash through them but it was gone so quickly he thought he must have imagined it. And then just as suddenly, Nix’s shoulders dropped, his whole body sagging as a defeated look swept over him. He hung his head and let out a long, shaky breath.</p><p>“Sorry Dick. I just didn’t expect to be stuck in here, you know?” Nix mumbled awkwardly, stuffing his hands into his pockets.</p><p>“You’re the intelligence officer, couldn’t you have seen this coming?”</p><p>“Oh har har. Wise guy huh?” Nix said, his eyebrows raised and a hint of amusement in his eyes now.</p><p>“You started it.” Dick shrugged, allowing his own eyes to smile back.</p><p>
  <em>This was fine, he could do this. This banter between them, totally standard, perfectly manageable. Just Dick and Nix, being best buds. Totally casual. It was all going to be fine.</em>
</p><p>Nix’s lips quirked into a smile as he offered, “Truce?”</p><p>“Well it is a day full of surrenders.” Dick relented, fighting back an answering smile.</p><p>“VE Day…how much do you wanna bet they’re not even looking for that key? Too busy partying I expect.” There was a definite hint of sulkiness in Nix's tone at that.</p><p>“Well they ended up on the wrong side of the wall for that didn’t they?” Dick said in an effort to cheer him up, gesturing towards the huge collection of bottles behind them that still hadn’t been touched. Despite their best efforts and even with Lipton, Spiers and Harry’s help moving some out earlier, there were still a lot of bottles left.</p><p>“Dick.” Nix said in awe, staring at the other man as though he’d just performed a miracle, “I’d almost forgotten about the alcohol!”</p><p>
  <em>What could possibly be on Nix's mind enough to make him forget about alcohol?</em>
</p><p>“The whole room not give you a clue there Lew?” Dick threw back, no longer able to keep a small smile from tugging at his lips.  </p><p>
  <em>Okay the banter was starting to get a little flirty now, he was going to have to rein it in if he wanted to get through the evening.</em>
</p><p>“You’re very sassy tonight.” Nix observed.</p><p>“Yeah. Well…” Dick stopped himself from saying, ‘Being locked in a cellar with the man you’ve been pining over and killing yourself trying not to think about since the day you met him will do that for you.’</p><p>Instead he opted for, “I’m sorry too I guess.” Then felt at the very least he should add, in the interest of some degree of honesty, “I hadn’t planned on spending the evening locked in this room with you either.”</p><p>“<em><strong>This</strong></em> room? You say it like you had another room in mind?” Nix said raising an eyebrow suggestively at him.</p><p>
  <em>Okay they were officially well past flirty. </em>
</p><p>Dick felt a flush spread through entire body and prayed desperately that the dim lighting in the cellar would compensate for his infuriatingly pale complexion.</p><p>Nix coughed at Dick’s silence and continued, “Not so bad is it?” his tone was teasing, but there was the smallest hint of a pleading look in his eyes.</p><p>“No, Lew, it’s not so bad.” Dick said fondly, his own eyes softening before he could stop them.</p><p>
  <em>That’s it, he was screwed.</em>
</p><p>They looked at each other for a few long moments, both with their hands shoved deep in their pockets. For Dick’s part, he couldn’t trust what would happen if he let his hands loose. He was afraid that if he moved them, they might end up embarking on a rogue mission, one that no field manual he had ever read could prepare him for.</p><p>The silence stretched on as Dick pondered the potential dangers that lay ahead of him and how exactly he could avoid them, until Nix broke the silence by clapping his own hands together.</p><p>“Well since there’s nothing else to do, and it is VE Day, drink?”</p><p>“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Lew.”</p><p>
  <em>Dick shouldn’t drink. That was the worst thing he could do right now. He needed to be in control.</em>
</p><p>Nix looked at him imploringly with those gorgeous, deep brown, puppy dog eyes that had plagued Dick’s dreams and pleaded, “Go on Dick, just one drink, for me?”</p><p><em>Dick had always quietly appreciated that Nix had never forced him to drink before nor apparently judged him for choosing not to. It was one of the many things he appreciated –okay, loved - about his best friend. Dick knew that Nix wasn’t trying to force him to drink now. He was just asking. He wasn’t judging Dick for not being able to have fun, he just didn’t want to drink alone. He didn’t want to be alone. He needed reassurance. And when had Dick ever been able to deny him that? Really, when had Dick ever been able to deny him anything? </em> <em>Oh, hell.</em></p><p>“One.” Dick managed to get out.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Lew, I said one.” Dick said as Nix poured him his third drink, or was it his fourth?</p><p>
  <em>Uh oh. </em>
</p><p>“Technically you never finished your first drink-” Nix said grinning mischievously, “-I’ve just been topping it up. So it still counts as one.”</p><p>Dick chuckled despite himself, “I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works Lew.”</p><p>“Well, I <strong><em>am</em></strong> an expert and I can assure you it does.” Nix said from behind the bar in the middle of the room, leaning down onto it, his sleeves rolled up. “Plus I’m the bartender, I’m in charge.” All he was missing was a cloth on his shoulder and a glass to clean.</p><p>“It’s a good look for you.” Dick told him, sure now that his eyes were betraying every feeling in his body.</p><p>“Yeah? The whole bartender thing working for you is it?” Nix winked at him -actually winked- before leaning down even further on the bar towards Dick.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, it really is.</em>
</p><p>“Might be.” Dick murmured into his drink, leaning forward and looking at Nix over the rim of his glass in what he hoped was a confident and alluring sort of way, the alcohol well and truly wiping all previous thoughts of not flirting from his mind. Unfortunately the whole effect was somewhat ruined by Dick knocking over Nix’s glass in the process, spilling his drink all over him.</p><p>“Oh damn it, sorry Nix.” Dick stammered, seriously debating the feasibility of tunnelling out of the cellar.</p><p>“No no, it’s fine, at least it’s not piss this time.” Nix reassured him as he wiped what he could from his uniform, eyes twinkling in amusement.</p><p>Dick laughed nervously, trying not to relive that <strong><em>particular</em></strong> day and the way Nix had looked, his hair sleep tousled and only half dressed. Dick coughed, trying to recover.</p><p>Nix was still watching him closely, a teasing smile on his lips as he said, “Plus you know, it was worth it.”</p><p>“Worth it?”</p><p>“Yeah, worth it. To see Dick Winters drinking <em><strong>and</strong></em> flirting. I’m starting to wonder if hell froze over.”</p><p>Dick averted his eyes once again in embarrassment as he emptied his own glass in the more conventional way, hoping he could blame the alcohol for the persistent colour in his cheeks.</p><p>“Well the Germans surrendered, so I guess so.” He conceded.</p><p>Nix looked at him for a long moment, as if contemplating something. His brow furrowed suddenly, the teasing smile gone, “It’s really over huh?”</p><p>“Looks like it.” Dick tried to smile, but it was strained.</p><p>
  <em>He supposed he should be happy. The war was over. He could move on and live his life. Except he didn’t know what that meant for the two of them, what life afterwards would look like. Life without Nix. He didn’t know when it would come, but he knew that whatever form their goodbye was going to take, he wasn’t ready to hear it. He couldn’t.</em>
</p><p>Nix was staring at him again, considering. He looked like he wanted to say something, his lips parted with unformed words. There was a deep sadness in his eyes. Dick could see it swimming amongst all of those specks of brown, which seemed impossibly close now, with only the bar standing between them as they leant towards each other once more. Dick wondered if Nix was thinking about Kathy. The thought made him feel sick.</p><p>Nix licked his lips, and asked shakily, almost in a whisper, “What am I gonna do Dick?”</p><p>“After?" </p><p>“Yeah. What am I gonna do without…how am I supposed to cope without…”</p><p>“Without Kathy?” Dick asked him flatly, trying to keep the resentment out of voice.</p><p>“Kathy?” Nix asked, looking annoyed all of a sudden, “Who gives a fuck about Kathy? Screw Kathy!”</p><p>“The dog then?” Dick asked, confused.</p><p>“I did love that dog. But no, Dick, not the damn dog.”</p><p>“Well, what then?”</p><p>“How am I supposed to be happy that the war’s over, that this is all over, that I have to go back, when I’ve got everything I want right here?”</p><p>“I’m not sure alcohol’s the answer to lasting happiness Lew.” Dick answered a little irritatedly, assuming that Nix was simply rambling, lamenting the potential loss of all of these bottles and that he was way past drunk.</p><p>But the gaze Nix was giving him now suggested otherwise. It was focused and steady; Dick couldn’t have looked away even if he’d wanted to.</p><p>“I wasn’t talking about the drink, Dick.”</p><p>Dick’s breath hitched and a dizziness that had nothing to do with the alcohol swept over him. He searched Nix’s unrelenting gaze for any sign that this was some sort of cruel, twisted joke, but he found none.</p><p>
  <em>Could it be? Could it really be possible that he had not been alone in his feelings all this time? Or had Nix simply had one drink too many?</em>
</p><p>Nix edged his hand forward towards Dick’s, brushing their fingers together ever so slightly, as if testing the water. As if there was any way they could back away from this at this point.</p><p>“Nix…” Dick warned, his voice barely above a whisper. He wasn’t sure if Nix would be able to hear it above his heartbeat, which was surely loud enough to fill the room by now. He still couldn’t look away.</p><p>“Dick…” Nix deliberately placed his fingers over Dick’s now, leaning his head slightly closer.</p><p>“You’re drunk.” Dick said softly, unable to move. Petrified about what would happen if he did. About what would happen if he didn’t.</p><p>“Not very.” Nix told him, inching closer still.</p><p>“<strong><em>I’m</em></strong> drunk.” Dick tried, his protests sounding weak even to his own ears.</p><p>“A little.” Nix allowed, his eyes darting back and forth between Dick’s eyes and lips.</p><p>“We shouldn’t…” Dick’s mouth was so dry now.</p><p>“Why not?” Nix said, still moving, closer and closer. Dick could count all of Nix’s eyelashes, if he wanted to. They were practically tickling his cheek.</p><p>“It’s wrong…” Dick tried, his tongue feeling heavy and too big for his mouth.</p><p>Nix paused at that, pulling back slightly and regarding Dick seriously as he whispered, “Does any part of this feel wrong to you?”</p><p>Dick was shaking all over. He could barely breathe. </p><p>
  <em>He couldn’t fight this anymore. He just couldn’t. Hadn’t he done enough fighting?</em>
</p><p>“No…” He relented at long last. “...I mean, I might’ve picked a more romantic spot. Not exactly how I imagined this happening.”</p><p>“So you have imagined it?” Nix was beaming now.</p><p>“No-” Dick stammered nervously, “-I mean-”</p><p>“Cause I have.” Nix told him.</p><p>“You have?” Dick almost gasped.</p><p>“Why do you think I drink so much?” Nix smiled once more, his nose brushing Dick’s own now.</p><p>“Lew…” Dick breathed. He was so close. He could almost taste him.</p><p>“Dick.” Lew said sternly, suddenly grabbing the sides of Dick’s face with both of his hands, “I literally never thought I’d say this, but you talk too much.”</p><p>And with that, in one sure, swift movement Nix’s lips were on his and Dick was frozen in place. It was clumsy for all of two seconds whilst Nix waited for him to respond, before instinct kicked in and Dick came to life under Nix's hands. There was no field manual for this, but Dick had never been so sure of anything. It was as though he had been waiting for this his entire life, and perhaps he had. None of the other, albeit limited, kisses he’d had had felt like this. Nix was right, nothing about this could possibly be wrong. How could it be, when they fit so perfectly together?</p><p>What felt like hours but was probably only a couple of minutes passed before they broke apart, both desperate for air and breathing hard. Their hair was a mess, their faces red, their lips swollen, and at some point Nix had ended up on the bar; he was sat on it now with Dick pressed up against him between his legs.</p><p>
  <em>When had that happened?!</em>
</p><p>“Okay, enough breathing, who needs it, come here.” Nix said, pulling Dick back in by his collar and leaning back into some stray bottles on the bar.</p><p>“Wait wait wait-” Dick said breathlessly in between kisses, “-careful, you’ll smash all those bottles.”</p><p>“Don’t care.” Nix mumbled into Dick’s mouth, unwilling to break the kiss for another second.</p><p>“Wow, now I know you’re intoxicated.” Dick huffed out a delirious laugh.</p><p>Nix groaned in frustration at their kiss being interrupted again, “Not from the drink.”</p><p>“Lew…” Dick moaned into his mouth.</p><p>Nix moaned back, “God I love it when you call me Lew.”</p><p>“Lew…”</p><p>Nix whimpered, “God I love you.” </p><p>Dick pulled back so suddenly he might have given himself whiplash, “What did you just say?” he demanded, suddenly feeling incredibly sober.</p><p>Nix looked horrified, his eyes wide and panicked. “Nothing.”</p><p>“You said you love me.” Dick said, his lips parted in awe.</p><p>“I didn’t.” Nix stammered, his face turning redder by the second.</p><p>“You love me?” Dick asked again, his lips twisting into a smile now, his eyes gazing at Nix in wonder.</p><p>“Look just forget - ” Nix said getting seriously flustered now.</p><p>“I love you too, Lew.” Dick interrupted, putting his hand on Nix’s cheek and looking at him in a way that made his words indisputable.</p><p>Nix stared back at him and then was on him again in a second, his hands and lips moving in a complete frenzy.</p><p>“Nix!” Dick breathed out, laughing again, “The bottles!”</p><p>“Fuck the bottles, come here.” Nix practically growled.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>As they sat under the bar a little later, surrounded by the wreckage of their earlier activities, Nix stroked Dick’s hair and asked, “Wanna know a secret?”</p><p>“I think we’re officially past having secrets, Lew.” Dick said, smiling up at him.</p><p>“You wanna hear it or not?”</p><p>”Sure Lew, I’ll hear a secret.”</p><p>“That day you threw my own piss over me?”</p><p>“Yeah?” Dick asked, wondering where this was going.</p><p>“I was already awake.” Nix confessed.</p><p>“What?” Dick asked, baffled. “So why’d you pretend to be asleep and let me throw piss on you?”</p><p>“Well I wasn’t expecting <strong><em>that</em></strong> to be fair.” Nix defended. “But I had to pretend to be asleep for longer than I was. To hide a certain…”, he coughed sheepishly, “…reaction I’d had.”</p><p>“To what?” Dick asked, curious.</p><p>“You patted me, on my hip, to try and wake me, remember?”</p><p>“Oh. <strong><em>Oh</em></strong>.” Dick blushed despite himself, despite everything they’d just done.</p><p>“Yeah. But having your own piss thrown over you is the quickest way to get rid of<strong><em> that</em></strong> problem let me tell you.” Nix chuckled.</p><p>“Noted.” Dick laughed back.</p><p>“Not the most fun way though.” Nix quirked an eyebrow at him in suggestion.</p><p>Dick quirked one back. “Again?”</p><p>“Hey! We have a lot of lost time to make-up for.”</p><p>“And yet you’re wasting it by still talking.” </p><p>Nix shook his head in disbelief, but couldn’t stop the wide grin from spreading across his face. “Dick Winters, drinking and flirting.”</p><p>“Well like I said, Happy VE Day.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“So you’re really not gonna tell them we have the key?” Lipton asked.</p><p>“Not until they’ve…resolved their issues.” Spiers responded suggestively.</p><p>“Harry was worried you know-” Lipton said, “-thought whatever might happen in there could affect morale.”</p><p>Spiers rolled his eyes. “Them <strong><em>not</em></strong> doing that is affecting morale. They’ve been moping after each other like lovesick puppies for too long. Enough is enough.”</p><p>Lip laughed, shrugging his shoulder in agreement.</p><p>“And on that subject-” Spiers added, staring at Lipton, his eyes full of meaning, “-What d’ya say we go find somewhere quiet to boost morale ourselves?”</p><p>Lipton swallowed nervously. “What about them, when do we let them out?” he asked, his voice shaking.</p><p>“I reckon they might need a bit longer.” Spiers assured him, his gaze unfaltering, “We have time.”</p><p>And they did, all of them, they had all the time in the world.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you like this I may write a prequel with the aforementioned rude awakening scene...and maybe a sequel with some<br/>smut...wait, what am I saying? I have a script to write!<br/>(But seriously I will write them 😂)<br/> </p><p>P.S. You can find me on tumblr if you like always-detty.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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